Best Jack-o-lantern yet

I don't know if you still read this regularly, Daniel, but...
This is for you.

THEY ARE NIGHT ZOMBIES! THEY ARE NEIGHBORS!

These past few days have been so exciting and fun-filled!!!

This week's projects weren't very difficult and not very time consuming, there are long term projects I need to be working on and am currently working on, but for now, I have the chance to sit back and enjoy spending time with wonderful folks.

It really has been lovely.

(This entry will have no pictures because I don't want to post scary ones!!!)

Me, Tyler, Lindsay, and Joe all watched 28 Days Later last night to celebrate Halloween. I've never done that - watched a horror movie on Halloween - but it seems like a bad time to watch one! There are costumed creeps everywhere!!

You know, vampires and chainsaw murderers and ghosts don't really scare me, but zombie movies are really ... really frightening to me

I'm not talking about slow-moving undead, crawling up out of graves. All you have to do is run. Or just power-walk. And you're out of harm's way.

I'm talking about "infected" people, turned into crazies by some virus or curse.

It's scary because it seems so plausible!!! With all the scientific experiments and genetic engineering, what if something went horribly wrong?!
.... But then, when you really think about it, it's all just pretty ridiculous.

Even so. It freaks me out.

But what freaks me out even more than infected crazies are dogs. Maybe it's because I'm such a cat person, but dogs realllly frighten me.
So it follows that a movie containing infected crazy dogs (I Am Legend) would give me nightmares for weeks.

Thank goodness for gore-free comedy movies. And zombie survival guides.

Sighs vs. Music Theory

You can tell everything about how I'm feeling by the way I walk in after a long day.

I always will sigh, because I'm exhausted, but the pitch of the sigh says everything.

For example. I realized today that my sigh started on B flat and dropped a fifth. (Usually every sigh will contain a fifth drop.) And that accurately summed up my mood. B flat is a mellow key. "Doin' fine"

If I sigh an "A" you should just accept that I had a wonderful day and not ask about it, because I will gush about how good it was and annoy you because the A sigh is the dreamy "I saw him today" sigh

The optimal sigh pitch is "G" and it is the most common.
In fact that's the one I sigh the most when walking in the door.


The rare bad/grueling day is an F sharp.

If you happen to have your tuner out and you hear an F sharp sigh....... I'd appreciate it if you went up and hugged me.

But today was a B flat day.
Pretty swell.

nighty night

Take me out to the ball game...

I feel that things have finally settled down again. Big projects are done, tests have been taken, and I actually had a night off to watch the Rangers game with some friends.

The San Francisco pitcher looked so ... troubled. His facial expression right before he pitched - it was just too funny.

I actually did watch the play and not just the players. I think baseball is exciting because it's the one sport that I understand.
(I played the old SNES baseball game... and it helped me)

If only I had played a football game I would understand that!!! It has been explained to me countless times and I still don't get it. :(

Tomorrow is an easier day. One of my classes isn't meeting, so all I have to attend is one class! Yay!

I need to get to bed - now that I have less work I can get ample sleep! =)

(you know, as fabulous as Cliff Lee is, my favorite pitcher will always be Daniel Chruscielski!)

I could really use a wish right now

I just want to curl up in a big knitted sweater surrounded by a bunch of quilts with a mug of hot chocolate and watch a disney movie ...

SO.

Tonight was the open mic night thing. for missions.
Lady Gaga was there. You know. I let her borrow my sunglasses. ;)

I miss playing music
I miss dancing with my friends.

That's the one thing .. I spend all my time working, and I get my music fix in the practice room, but sometimes, I just really miss show choir. And I realized it at open mic night.
I say it in passing sometimes. Like, "I miss my show choir figure" because I was so good about working out back then.
I really do miss it though. Singing and making music with other people, that is a huge source of joy for me.

But.

I got to play the Pokemon theme song afterward. and sing with Jake. that was superfun.
Is it selfish to say that was the highlight of my evening?? but it was just so nice to sing a song I was crazy about with someone as enthusiastic about it as I was.

GOSH! I feel like I'm so serious in my posts and I don't mean to be. I don't really take myself so seriously...
I'm trying to be honest. And record life accurately.

I miss singing jazz.
I miss a lot of things.

But there's so many wonderful things here that I'd be silly to be sad and looking back.
I'm so blessed. I say it so much but you know, I really mean it every time I do

Delight in the Lord!

I remember when I first came here, and God was just working and moving in my life in crazy ways, certain phrases kept echoing in my mind. "Delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." "Ask and you shall recieve."

I find myself remembering those phrases. God knows what we need. And He does not withhold these good things from us.

My lovely older sisters in Christ have blessed me so much with their kindness and beautiful examples of godly women.

This past week I had been feeling discouraged because I am so young and immature in my faith. I admire my sisters for their strength and wisdom, but it makes me realize how much I have to learn.
The discouragement came from my repeated failure to overcome temptation and just academically I'm not doing as well as I'd hoped. So it was spiritual and worldly discouragement.

But Pastor Ross said something this morning, he told us not to get caught up in the works; that Jesus tells us only to fix our eyes upon Him and let Him work in us.

I'd been so caught up in works.. I know that I'm supposed to love God firstly, and everything else falls after, but I need to stop stressing about the after. God will change me and fix me in His own time. I just have to fix my eyes on Him. And the fruit of that will be my overcoming of those obstacles.

As for academics, I'm cutting back even more things to make sure I get everything done. And this last project, I did it in a worshipful manner, I wanted my work to be pleasing to the Lord.
I am so happy that even my schoolwork can be worship..

Even if painting is difficult. =)

I feel like as long as I'm doing my best, I don't need to get down and discouraged on myself. Getting discouraged is so easy for me to do - but I fight those thoughts. We're all going at our own pace. I'm doing what I can. =)

I hope this post was encouraging for you - if you're feeling discouraged, or even if you're just praying and waiting for God to move in your life.. He will not withhold good things from you, remember the righteous man "is like a tree planted by rivers of water... whatever he does will work out well for him." =)

Tight hugs. Warm wishes.
Whatever it is, you can do it. You'll overcome it.

Feel Good Drag

Our small group is currently going through 1 John. Reading scripture is always a good thing, but Stephanie always brings something up when she goes over it with us, something I didn't think of when I read it the first time.

Anyway - it was 1 John 5, the passage about "they will know we are Christians by our love."
She said that it was about WANTING to love people instead of just being nice to them out of 'duty'.

This morning a janitor stopped me to talk to me today. She was an ex-Sociology major. I think God has put in her the desire to exhort and encourage people, because she was talking to me about my future and how I needed to use my career as an opportunity to bless others.
I was following her until she started talking about our reward when we give to others.

Her motivations were that it makes us feel good inside. We give to others because we recieve happiness tenfold.

What a sweet woman. But as wonderful as this sounds, I realize it can sometimes distract us.

We should want to serve others because it glorifies God, not just because it makes us feel good.
It's hard to say this, because I know I will be misunderstood, but God should be the center of our affections, and we should be moved to serve and feel good serving, blessing others does give us a feeling of satisfaction, but the reason WHY we do it is because we are called to do so, and we do it out of love for God and a desire to be like Christ.

If you want to be seen as a "good person" then I guess it stops there. Giving because you "get" a good feeling.

But what about when it hurts to serve, when it's a real sacrifice, when God calls you to do something that others misunderstand?
That's when the traps of wanting to "feel good" and be seen as a "good person" will cause us to stumble. I get caught up in those traps all the time and I don't even realize that I'm doing it for my own gain.

Walking with God is a balancing act sometimes.
We can get caught up in sin and feel totally worthless and afraid, and then we can get caught up in self-righteousness.
So yes - we should take joy in serving others. But we do it not for the joy, but to walk in the footsteps of Christ.

And I get so caught up in the philosophy of optimism and staying positive. I realized that I have to keep that out of my Gospel. Even though I think being positive is great, exhortation isn't just the messages of "SMILE" and "Be happy"

I feel like sometimes people try to dress up the Gospel and scripture with other philosophies. Our culture is saturated with appealing things that we don't even realize are unBiblical.

I pray for a spirit of compassion and love, because it is only through the Holy Spirit's power that I can spread light.

Hugs!!

Powodzenie

Today was total "powodzenie"!!! That means SUCCESS!!!!

I went to my art critique and WHAAAA everyone seemed to like it, even though I felt it was a little bit rushed because I was out sick last week and didn't have enough time to do it....

I GOT A 97 on my DRAWING PROJECT!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm so happy I could be dancing.

The news only gets better.

So I stopped by the garage sale at the BSM and I found all these cute clothes!!!
I got two pairs of shoes, one pair of boots and one pair of fancy black flats.
Total cost for shoes = $6
And the boots are nice winter boots! I like them!
I also got a dress, a nice plaid top, and an artsy purse for a total of $3!

But the best part is, all the money is donated to missions, so I can save money AND help send someone on missions!!! What a fabulous idea! =)))

The pastor at C3 wants me to help design stuff for the church! Obviously my school assignments will come first, but this could be something for my portfolio! If they turn out nice =)
But my current spiritual challenge is to be a better steward of time, since I have fallen behind due to sickness.

Another happy piece of news - my drawing class is giving us the weekend off, no homework for once!! =)
I TOLD you today was total powodzenie!!

Champion Radish!

OMW I JUST WORKED OUT.. for the first time at the rec center.
I try to work out in my dorm room, doing a little Pilates, but honestly, I haven't had a real workout since the days of summer Ab Lounge.
The REC center (yes, this is an actual picture of it) is truly superior.
They have:

-7.5 pound weights for my super strength
- stair climbing treadmills.
- like three pools, hot tub, lap swimming
- leg excercisers, they work your thighs and glutes!
- Pilate mats!!! ♥
- a track with an amazing view (it's like a ring around the ceilling!)
- excercise balls! huge ones!
- pretty much everything.

I'm going to try and teach Maria yoga and stretches!! My core muscles have gotten so weak.... :3

I FEEL GREAT!

Back to awesome

Goodness gracious. I think today was splendid!!!
The past week was troublesome what with sickness and projects, but I feel like I've been through the worst of it and things are back to awesome!


I got two artworks done, spent time with lovely people, and I feel like I aced my mid-term!!! We will see if my suspicions are correct.


I give today a 10/10! Rating: fabulous. =)

I hope you're doing well too! Hugs!